AMSHINOV- no quarter asked,no quarter given

Think of me as perpetual Shil'shel Peh

Friday, August 26, 2005

Please pass this message on

The following letter was written by Moshe Simons, a Hatzolah volunteer from the Old City of Yerushalayim.

(photo of Shmuel Matt's HY"D funeral)NEWS ALERT August 25, 2005 Young Jewish Man Murdered in Jerusalem. His crime - being Jewish.I sit facing my computer, and words fail me. I have just witnessed one of the most tragic and traumatic events of my life.A Jewish young man died in my arms tonight.Yes, you read correctly. A Jewish man died in my arms tonight. His sin? Being Jewish in Jerusalem.At about 8:25 this evening, we got a call from the MDA dispatcher about a stabbing on Rechov David - the shuk leading from Shaar Yaffo(Jaffa Gate) to the Kotel. I immediately left my apartment and sped over to the chaotic scene not far from there on a Hatzolah ambu-cycle.Upon arrival, a horrible sight greeted me. A young Jewish man, lyingin a pool of his own blood, with a 15" knife sticking out of his stomach. After being at many bombings, car accidents and other traumatic events, this scene had the distinction of being the worst one I have ever seen.His skin a very pale color, and his eyes half open, I reached him. The only people around were police officers, who didn't really know what to do. The young Jewish man was not breathing, and he had no pulse.This is the nightmare of any EMT. Alone, as the only person with medical training at the scene, there is not much you can do. Many tasks need to be done, and many people are needed to do them.

Starting loss and trying to stop the bleeding are some of the things that need to be done, but in the seconds that I was there, my mind stopped working. One can not think rationally in such situations - one must actlike a robot, doing whatever could be done as quickly as possible.First, I called for backup on my MIRS, and then I started CPR. Even with all of the expensive equipment that we have, there are times that the only thing you can use is a simple pocket mask.Using a bag valve mask on a trauma patient that you are having trouble opening an airway for is a waste of time. It is close to impossible to use on your own on such a patient. I took out my trusty face mask, and started mouth to mouth resuscitation. I felt his lungs fill up with air, and I was slightly encouraged. One of the police officers started chest compressions (as well as he could), and we continued basic CPR for a minute or two.At this point, an ambulance with a paramedic - Aryeh Yaffe - arrived at the scene, along with Rafi Herbst and another volunteer. We now had four sets of hands instead of one, and could now start to try to save the young Jewish man's life. We immediately searched for the wounds and tried to stop the bleeding. At the same time we tried to start an IV, but were having difficulty due to the massive amounts of blood that he lost. We continued CPR, this time with a bag valve mask and good compressions, and in the meantime, more volunteers from the Jewish Quarter arrived on foot, and quickly took my place. Shortly thereafter a MDA Mobile ICU arrived and continued to work on the patient - the Doctor I saw on their crew was one of the best I have ever seen working under pressure and keeping his cool - as well as giving fantastic care to the patient.Soon, we had three IV's running, and we were trying to restart young man's heart using drugs. Atropine, Sodium Bicarbonate were used among other drugs, and soon we had a heart rhythm on the EKG, although we did not have a pulse.We moved the patient to the mobile ICU who transferred him to the trauma center at Haddassah Ein Karem, but the young man was pronounced dead in the operating room - he had a massive gash in the veins and arteries in his stomach, and we could not save him. When I had arrived at the scene previously - he was no longer with us, yet we tried everything that we could to bring him back - to no avail.

What was the young man's crime? What did he do wrong? Why was he murdered by our 'peace partners'? To us, the residents of the Old City, these answers are clear. The arabs want us out of Israel - out of Jerusalem. They see clearly that violence and terrorism against Jews works, as witnessed in Gaza and Gush Katif - five years of violence culminated in the surrender of the Jews. Now, they clearly say that they want Jerusalem - and the way for them to get it is through blood - our blood.A friend of mine commented tonight, "Jewish blood is not cheap. It's free."The terrorism will continue - and will get much worse in Jerusalem.One thing I can tell you - we won't run. We will stand firm, and remain here until one side wins - us or them. The battle is for the soul of the Land of Israel - let no one think otherwise.In the meantime, I'm sure you are asking yourselves - what can bedone? The answer, as I see it, is threefold.Physical help: This includes writing to congressmen, senators,politicians; trying to influence the viewpoint of others around you;visiting Israel; helping us in our struggle.After tonight, I've realized that every volunteer EMT in the Old City should have a gun with him - we need to raise money for that as well (I can be reached at moshe@hatzolah.org.il for more information as to how to donate).I never thought that as an EMT I'd be trying to raise money for guns -the instruments of death, but times have changed. There are also other medical items that we need - reach me at the email address above.More importantly, we must realize that our fate is decided in Heaven.When a decree comes from before G-d, we must take a deeper look at ourselves and try to find what is wrong spiritually. Each of us must make additional effort in the spiritual realm to do more mitzvot and study Torah, and through that may we merit the rescinding of the terrible sword that hangs above our heads.Let us cry together. Let us understand that a Jew murdered in Jerusalem must have an impact upon the entire Jewish nation - we must realize the depths that we have reached. We are a splintered, fragmented nation - each of us finding fault with the other. At the very least, let us join together in sorrow, and cry as one for the blood of a young man, murdered in Jerusalem simply because he was a Jew.Please pass this message on.

We must wake up and realize where this is leading. We must arise to the challenge given to us and join together to be victorious.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

It was Shiffys Idea

A little bit back Shifra had her kid do some blogging ,I quess there are no child labor laws in Jersey.Anyway I loved the idea, so my kids will be quest posting this one:READY KIDSuiuhhgghfgfgddsdsdaADFDSFDSGFSGFSGFSGFS dfsggfhgfhgffjhhjfjfjhffbvmnvmvnvnmv

Back off of Tomy Boy

Orthomummyof4in5T and Ze'ev are peeved at everyone's favorite lefty MK Tomy Lapid for stating that "It is very sad that people exploit the name of the Holocaust for political ends."When a year ago he said in reference to the Palestinians situation :". . . I saw an old woman rummaging through the ruins of her house looking for her medication, and it reminded me of my grandmother who was thrown out of her house during the Shoah".Yossel (Tomy) Lapid was born in Yugoslavia in 1931 and immigrated in 1948.He is the head of the Shuni party, Yosef Lapid has been a MK since 1999. Somewhere in between those above dates we find why I won't agree with them, though what he did can be seen as a double standard and much of his rhetoric in general is narishkeit - foolishness to the 10th, even so he has entitlements we should never be able to enjoy.Mr Lapid is a Holocaust survivor.His grandmother was not.She died in Auschwitz.

Peace ?

Less than 48 hours after Israel removed all Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in preparation for its handover to the Palestinians next month.A British Mir Yeshiva student was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in Yerushlaim, yesterday with a kitchen knife .Shmuel Matt, just 21 years old so instead of preparing to get married in three months, Shmuel Matt will be buried in Jerusalem.He'd only been in Israel about a year-and-a-half.A second student, Sammy Weissbard, 20, of New York, was wounded in the same assault.This happened on a main shopping street near the Old City's Jaffa Gate at about 8:30 pm as the two were walking with a third man from the Kosel. And no one has been arrested.

INSULT TO INJURY

Police were called to the scene when the victim's sister asked hospital officials not to give the body to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, upon denial of the request hundreds of yeshiva students blocked the hospital entrance to prevent the body's transfer.His sister said despite everything this family is going through, the police are not negotiating .And so protesters burn garbage, stone police to protest transfer to the forensic lab at Abu Kabir.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Great Thing

I know ,I know a fanatic is someone who won't change his mind and can't change the subject. But if Churchill was right and all the great things are simple, and can be expressed in a single word:freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope then in me mind the next Prime Minister of the State of Israel is a simple call , Anatoly Sharansky who in 1973 applied for a visa to Israel, but was refused by the Russian goverment. Remaining involved in Jewish refusenik work until his arrest in 1977. Then convicted in 1978 of spying on behalf of the United States, Sharansky was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. He spent 16 months in Lefortovo prison, frequently in solitary confinement and in a torture cell, before being transferred to the Siberian gulag.

With his will power he forced the russian jewery issue on every front, causing everyone from dissidents in Eastern Europe to diplomats in Red Square to rethink the moral standards of the Kremlin. A battle for his release was waged by his wife, who moved to Israel right after their wedding . Intense public outcries for his release were met success in 1986, when Sharansky was released to Israel as part of an East-West prisoner exchange. Sharansky served as Minister of Industry and Trade from June 1996-1999 and as Minister of the Interior from July 1999 until his resignation in July 2000.Then he served as Minister of Housing and Construction and Deputy Prime Minister from March 2001 until February 2003. The Israel b'Aliya Party, established in 1996 and was led by Sharansky (he has since resigned as party leader) it has the vision that attracted many of us to zionism in the first place.This moderate right-wing party mainly serves Israel’s immigrant population supports Palestinian autonomy, but not a Palestinian state.

Finally, Sharansky was made Minister responsible for Jerusalem, Social and Diaspora affairs.In an altruistic move, Sharansky resigned from the government on May 2, 2005, because of his opposition to Sharon's disengagement plan. Saying the "disengagement plan would do nothing to advance democracy on the part of the Palestinians and was tearing Israeli society apart" ."I believe any concessions in the peace process must be linked to democratic reforms within Palestinian society" ...."Not only does the disengagement plan ignore such reforms, it will in fact weaken the prospects for building a free Palestinian society and at the same time strengthen the forces of terror," ..."Israel's departure from Gaza will not help build a society in which free speech, independent courts and free markets thrive" he said.And it will not end incitement in the Palestinian media and schools, or promote the dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure.

In his book The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, Sharansky argues that benefits to countries must be in direct correlation to the amount of freedom they allow their people. He also feels Israel is making a mistake by failing to demand democratic reform in exchange for Israel giving up Gaza . He said the will only worsen the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and increase terrorism."Yet what turns this tragic mistake into a missed opportunity of historic proportions is the fact that as a result of changes in the Palestinian leadership and the firm conviction of the leader of the free world that democracy is essential to stability and peace - a conviction that is guiding America's actions in other places around the world - an unprecedented wind of opportunity has opened," Sharansky wrote."How absurd that Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, still refuses to believe in the power of freedom to transform our world". As I have said in the name of Osa Rasha (I hope our next PM forgives me for quoting stalin)before "ideas are more powerful then guns".

זֵכֶר צַדִּיק, לִבְרָכָה; וְשֵׁם רְשָׁעִים יִרְקָב

In accord with our discussions which took place here, it is my opinion that your appropriate position is in the Israel Army; it is there, that with the help of G-d, you have been successful and will continue to be successful. This is in addition to the public benefit for the Jewish People - the Holy Nation, who dwell in Eretz Israel - the Holy Land; G-d has blessed you and made you successful in defending them with your aptitudes, your efforts and your energetic drive, etc. Therefore, as I spoke to you when you were here, it is most certainly that it is your duty to continue this service and role of high responsibility. It is my strong hope that even if the relationship of someone with yourself requires improvement and rectification for some reason; in the final analysis this itself shows your seriousness, sense of responsibility and devotion to your role to the extent that this is your very life. In accord with what we have said, my opinion is self understood that there is no reason G-d Forbid that you should turn to a different post, and absolutely not to the political scene, to neither a ministerial position nor the like. This is not your task. In this field you will not be able to utilise your talent and knowledge, but to the absolute contrary.I have absolutely no shadow of doubt that your mission and success is specifically in the army. Especially now, that you are high ranking and essential for the security situation of the entire country. Of what significance is it that this involves some ill feeling or friction etc, bearing in mind the public benefit and protection of the nation. All of the above is applicable even in the present situation. However, even though I am not a pessimist whatsoever, one must not hide from the present situation that if, G-d Forbid this continues its natural course, the opposing side (Egypt) is strengthening and fortifying itself on the opposite bank of the Suez Canal. Most certainly, regardless of all diplomatic warnings, the enemy is utilising each day to gain strength, introducing the most effective weaponry, etc... Certainly the path to this is not by exhibiting signs of weakness and preparedness to compromise and to offer great concessions as is now quoted and publicised in all the newspapers. But to the absolute contrary. As the saying goes, if you really want peace you must show that you are prepared to enter the opposite (war) with all fortitude under conditions favourable to yourselves. translated from the sefer Karasi Ve'en Oneh, Sichos on Shleimus Haaretz (vol 2 page 450)

HATTIP savethelandofisrael.blogspot.com-amshinover lives in amshinov plus or minus a week

Monday, August 22, 2005

Now what?

WARNING THIS IS A RANT:So now that we have given away Aza, what is next?ChevronorYerushalayim?My grandparents did not have a pot to piss in,but that was life in the Ukraine and Poland.Still every erev shabus Bubby would give something to Rabbi Meir Baal Hanas(chairty for jews in Israel) and to Abraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin fund we call Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael ,JNF. The goal was to buy land our land back, acre by dunob, back from the absentee landowners(wealthy arabs ,that lived abraod).But for you leftists with no affiliation to our history, that is a non-isssue.BTW,Do not think for an instant that they will view this olive branch as an attempt at peace.To the arab this was a sign of weakness.And we just gave them a state to run terror from TERRORIST+WATER FRONT BORDER+AIR STRIP.As Abba Eban once said the Palestinians historically never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.